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JUIY/AUGUST 2000
IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
Ahern Testifies at Tribunal
DUBLIN - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was called as a witness in a tribunal to discover if illegal payments were made to his predecessor Charles Haughey when he was in office.
Ahern told the Moriarty tribunal in Dublin that he only just learned of an alleged IR£ 100,000 donation to his party through Haughey 11 years ago.
The tribunal had been told that the payment was made by property developer Mark Kavanagh to three-times taoiseach Haughey on the morning of the 1989 general election. Kavanagh did not receive a receipt for the money.
Ahern was called after tribunal lawyer John Coughlan said the tribunal only became aware of a 1996 internal Fianna Fail inquiry into the donation when, the story broke several weeks ago.
The party's solicitors gave the tribunal a list of donors in August 1999. However, other documents were not handed over at that stage. This was despite claims by Ahern that he and his party were
helping the tribunal in every way they could.
On the stand, Ahern said he had been told that Kavanagh's donation was only for around IR£25,000. "The first Ume I became aware that the 1989 donation was IR£100,000, was on June 21," he said.
Ahern, who arrived early to avoid the media, has sought to distance himself from sleaze allegations emerging from official inquiries into the Haughey era.
The tribunal, headed by high court judge Justice Michael Moriarty, had earlier identified a sum of more than IR£8.5 million received by Haughey over a 17-year period from 1979, over four times more than previous estimates.
As a result, Ahern and Fianna Fail now face the prospect of a difficult autumn. In the event of a general election before a report is issued by the Moriarty Tribunal expected early next year, the party will be left awaiting what amounts to a judgment on the integrity of its tribunal dealings.
Emigrants Returning for Quality of Life
WESPORT, County Mayo -Speaking at the forty-eighth annual summer school of the Social Study Conference, Oliver Brannigan, the head of Northern Ireland's Probation Board, warned that growing materialism could undermine Irish society.
In his presentation entitled "Urban Chaos - Urban Decay" Brannigan said that as Irish people became more urbanised and prosperous - indicators of social breakdown like marital breakdown, crime rates, drug abuse, depression and suicide have increased.
He said the attitude which placed achievement, expectation and success above all else was one reason for the social breakdown. "Status comes from being able to
consume rather than being able to contribute'" he said. "The hours worked and the focus on this success mean that, unlike the past, individuals are running the race on their own without traditional support structures, especially when they trip."
Despite painting a bleak picture, Brannigan said he believed change for the better was "fermenting." For the first time, he said, young people are returning to Ireland and there is a surplus of immigration over emigration. Many are returning because of the economic prospects while others have returned because they realize family and friends are important and the best quality of life is more important than the best car, holiday or house.
Britain Defies Ban on Radioactive Waste
DUBLIN - Despite a new international agreement, Britain will continue dumping radioactive waste into the Irish Sea. At a marine pollution conference in Copenhagen, a motion aimed at ending nuclear processing and toxic waste discharges into the sea was backed by the other 12 governments. Only Britain and France stood isolated against the motion and as a result, British Nuclear Fuels will continue pumping millions of gallons of radioactive waste into the Irish Sea from Sellafield.
Irish Public Enterprise Minister of State Joe Jacob pledged to continue the campaign to have the plant closed. He said he regretted there was no closure agreement but was happy with the outcome as many countries had signed up in opposition to nuclear reprocessing and discharges. He said that the agreement was not binding on countries that were not signatories.
Greenpeace claimed the agreement was legally binding. Spokesman John Bowler said, "This is a decisive moment with far reaching consequences, never before has such a strong message been sent by so many countries calling for an end to reprocessing. This truly isolates
the UK and France."
Determined Massive Investment in Kildare
to Exhibit Book of Kells
DUBLIN - Despite a refusal by the Board of Trinity College to a request to lend a volume of Ireland's priceless Book of Kells -one of the masterpieces of western art - to the town which gave it its name, Kells Urban District Council refuses to take "no" for an answer.
It is continuing its campaign to display the 1,200-year-old manuscript for a limited period as the centrepiece of an exhibition in its new Heritage Centre. The show will consist of artifacts originally from the County Meath town but which are now in museums elsewhere in Ireland and Britain.
While college authorities said the decision was based on "security and environmental concerns," this excuse carries little weight in Kells, as the local council has committed to provide better conditions and greater security than are currently available in Trinity College.
Earlier this year, the Book of Kells was slightly damaged after being shipped to Australia for an exhibition in Canberra's National Gallery of Australia.
Euro Production in Ireland
DUBLIN - In preparation for the circulation of the euro as currency in Ireland, the Republic's central bank currency unit is busy producing euro banknotes. The new money will be legal tender from January 1, 2002.
The new notes range in value from 5 euros to 500 euros. Some 13 billion notes will be produced in the 11 member states and each country is responsible for the banknote it will put into production.
Euro notes will be the same across Europe, but Irish euro coins will carry a harp design which will not appear in coins minted in other countries. Production is monitored from a control centre in Frankfurt.
Sources for the news items on this page from: The Irish Times, The Irish News, The Irish Emigrant, The Irish Independent
Intel Corporation has announced that it plans to build a #2 billion expansion at its site in Leixlip, County Kildare, which will increase the number employed there by 1,000 to 5,400. This will be the biggest ever single investment by a multinational corporation in Ireland and was described by the IDA as the most important breakthrough in more than a decade.
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New County Mayo City Proposed
A report in The Irish Times says that support is growing for the establishment of a new city in east Mayo, with an initial population of 100,000, growing to 250,000 in 20 years. The argument is that the proposed 30 square mile site, close to an international airport (Knock), will have access to natural gas (off the Mayo coast), has the lowest populaUon density in Europe, the land is cheap and the limestone topography is suitable for building.
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Famine Ship Sailing Delayed
Plans to sail the replica of the Famine emigrant ship, the Jeanie Johnston, have been postponed until next year. Financial problems and the fitting out of the vessel have led to delays which means that it will be too late in the year for the crossing to be made safely. Instead the ship will sail around Irish ports in the autumn. The original budget of IRS4.5 million has jumped to IR£6.5 million, but the Government has agreed to make up the shortfall.
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Renovations for Ha'penny Bridge
Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge is apparently not as safe as it should be and will be closed for three months, later in the year, to undergo repairs. The 184-year-old bridge, which is badly corroded in places, now carries 27,000 pedestrians per day compared with 450 when it was first opened.
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Newfoundland's United Irishmen Remembered
A plaque commemorating the hanging of five soldiers who took part in an attempted mutiny in 1800 at the powder shed behind Fort Townshend in St. John's was reinstalled on June 17. The rising in Newfoundland was, as far as is known, the only United Irish rising outside of Ireland. The ceremony was organised by the Irish Newfoundland Association and attended by representatives from the provincial and municipal governments, as well as representatives of the Irish Government, Wexford County Council and 43 members of the Carrigbyrne Pike Group from Wexford.
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Air India Crash Remembered
The fifteenth anniversary of the Air India crash which claimed 329 lives off the south coast of Ireland was remembered on June 23. A Toronto-based Indian dance troupe was joined by local musicians and dancers for a commemorative performance in Bantry. Lata Pada, the director of the Canadian group, lost her husband and two children in the disaster, which was caused by a bomb claimed by an extreme Sikh group. As part of the commemoration, it was announced that the relatives of those who died have set up a fund to provide an annual scholarship for an Irish student. This is in acknowledgement of the help given by the people of Ireland, particularly those of west Cork. It is reported that even after 15 years, an arrest may be imminent.
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Fingerprinting Refugees
Irish Minister for Justice John O'Donoghue met his counterpart, the British Home Secretary to agree on terms for a bilateral exchange of refugee fingerprints. They propose to take fingerprints from all refugees over the age of 14. O'Donoghue insisted that the fingerprinting will not criminalise or stigmatise refugees. A spokesman for the Minister said that officials will begin work immediately on the taking of fingerprints.
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Church Condemns Refugee Policies
The Irish Bishops Conference attacked the Government's refugee policy, claiming the failure to reduce the processing time of applicants to six months had undermined the development of "a humane and sustainable policy." The Bishops noted that there is currently a backlog of 12,400 unprocessed cases, with 1,000 new refugees arriving each month. The system is currently unable to deal with more than 70 people per month. The strongest criticism related to new security and policing measures and the alleged lack of safeguards in the case of detention. A Department of Justice spokesman said that funding to recruit "a very significant number" of additional staff to process applications will be approved shortly.